Last year I advised United MileagePlus members who were about to lose their status to ask to have it extended. Many elites who hadn’t re-earned their status during 2024 were successful just by asking.
Many airlines and hotel programs have formal offers for this.
- Alaska Airlines has elite “leave” for new parents where they’ll extend your status a year.
- Hilton offers once in a lifetime Diamond status extension.
- And Delta has ‘reclaim my status’, an offer of temporary status and a challenge to keep that status.
- Meanwhile, it’s far more common elsewhere in the world, especially Europe, for loyalty programs to offer some form of family leave.
While United Airlines doesn’t have a formal, published program to support status extensions, calling or emailing with a request for status extension worked for many last year. If you’re about to see your status drop February 1, you might reach out to MileagePlus.
- Offer a reason why 2024 was different, like medical issues, that explains why you couldn’t requalify
- This might be offered only once every 5 years, or you might need 5 years of consecutive status for the extension to be granted. This is not clear.
- They may offer you a buy up first, before offering the extension when you decline the offer to pay.
Here’s what elite status with United required last year:
- Silver: 12 qualifying flights and 4,000 qualifying dollars, or 5,000 qualifying dollars
- Gold: 24 qualifying flights and 8,000 qualifying dollars, or 10,000 qualifying dollars
- Platinum: 36 qualifying flights and 12,000 qualifying dollars, or 15,000 qualifying dollars
- 1K: 54 qualifying flights and 18,000 qualifying dollars, or 24,000 qualifying dollars
It’s a lot cheaper for United to keep a customer than to acquire one. You’ve already proven your value and you cannot do this year after year. Without a published policy you aren’t guaranteed a result, but you should certainly ask – and United knows that you’ll appreciate with your loyalty when they grant your request.
With the Amex Hilton Aspire including automatic top-tier Diamond status, and its Free Night Certificate often covering the cost of the annual fee, if you redeem properly, why on earth would anyone earn Hilton status organically these days?
@1990, some people’s travel is at their employer’s expense. If a person can attain tier status wholly or predominantly via employee travel, the person might not want to incur that annual fee unless absolutely necessary. Just a thought.
@Lee
Woah. What a thought! Traveling, but like.. for work. Wow. How novel.
In that case, imagine, say, an employer covers the cost of the room (or a flight), and you include your frequent flyer or hotel loyalty program details to the reservation, receiving the benefits of your status and also earning points, personally. That would be.. wild, right?
Then, (follow me here for a second) if you ‘invested’ a little of your own funds on a credit card’s annual fee (like the Hilton Aspire, which as I described, practically pays for itself, and includes the top-tier status), you could enjoy the benefits of Hilton Diamond… while traveling… for business (and for leisure). Holy moly!
I must be the only one who ever thought of this. Gee, Lee!!
I referred my friend to this article last year when he was losing his UA Gold and he said no dice but never hurts to try! Hope it works for whoever tries it, thanks for the annual reminder.
Yes agreed with @1990, it’s a silly idea to say the least to chase Hilton status organically for the sake of chasing status when there’s a card available. I’m very curious what the breakdown is between those Diamonds who have an Aspire and which got status organically…
@L
Thank you for the vote of confidence, sir/madam.
I doubt we lay persons would ever get access to that data on how many Diamonds are from cards vs. stays/spending, but I’d imagine based on how easy the card route is to obtain that many have not stayed the requisite 30 times, 60 nights, or earned 120K points in a year. I never have. Hilton, if you’re listening, please do not change this. Me like-y.
I know that Gary’s original post above was on extending United status, but he did mention extending Hilton status as a comparison, so that’s sort of why we went down this rabbit hole.
Since we’re on the hotels topic, I have had each of the higher-end personal cards for the big-four US-based hoteliers, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, each of which bestows some status on its card members, and some form of a free night award. Ironically, whether free breakfast is included or not matters to me at least.
Anyway, here’s my personal comparison:
Hilton, Amex Aspire, $550 AF, top-tier Diamond status, free night (up to standard 150K, worth $750 at breakeven since points are worth 0.5 cents each on average), breakfast for most stays.
Marriott, Amex Brilliant, $650 AF, mid-tier Platinum status, 85K free night ($680 value at breakeven since points are worth 0.8 cents each on average), breakfasts at some properties (not Ritz-Carlton, for instance, which blows).
IHG, Chase, $99 AF, second-to-top-tier Platinum, free night up to 40K points (worth $200 at breakeven since points are worth 0.5 cents each on average), no breakfast.
Hyatt, Chase, $95 AF, entry-level Discoverist, Category 1-4 free night (I value at the cost of the annual fee, $95, sometimes hard to find good places to redeem), no breakfast.
So, yeah, you do you, but Hilton wins, then Marriott, and it’s kind of a tie between IHG/Hyatt, though Hyatt’s program is overall better since its points are so much more valuable 2-3 cents each.
@1990 – Very happy to engage in a conversation about Hilton status no matter how related or unrelated it may be, ha
I’m around 30 nights a year at Hiltons which isn’t even Gold so for my personal travel habits it’s pretty much a no-brainer to have an Aspire. Like you said the free night alone (new SLH partnership offers some more unique places to use this one) can recoup the cost but also just based on $600 in flight and resort credits it’s already worth it for me.
I appreciate your analysis on the other cards on which I have zero knowledge besides what I read on here. Ritz not giving free breakfast is disappointing, I was surprised to read that.
But yeah I’m with you, never change the Hilton Aspire please. Well, at least not for the worse 🙂
@L
If you end up wanting to ‘play the game’ with those other brands, those cards are a decent way to do so.
Agreed that Hilton snatching SLH from Hyatt was a big deal for them. There are some lovely, exotic properties in that portfolio. For seasoned global travelers, it’s an exciting time.
I’ve been really pleased with Hilton, especially overseas and during the pandemic. Scored incredible fifth-night-free redemptions at the Waldorf-Astoria, Conrad, and Hilton in Maldives. And recently stayed at their new ‘safari’ style property in Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park. Planning to attempt the new WA in Seychelles as well.
Closer to home, in the Yucatan, the relatively new WA in Cancun (great food there, for real) and the Conrad in Tulum are excellent as well. Even the WA in Beverly Hills is a great option for a domestic free night award, if available. Maybe they’ll finally reopen the original WA in NYC someday.
While Marriott may have the most quantity in the world, I’ve been more impressed with Hilton lately, for consistency and on the higher end. Hoping they continue to grow and keep putting customers first. It matters.